Samsung Leak Reveals Another New Folding Device

Westworld is one of the best shows on TV right now, and it looks like Samsung might be hoping to fulfil at least one of our fantasies about the future. This particular reality isn't human-like robots though, it's about foldable tablets. A new leak, discovered by LetsGoDigital suggests that a tablet which folds in half might be just around the corner.

The PDF of the application is available on LetsGoDigital, but I've checked through it using Google translate and there's some interesting stuff within. For example, the patent talks about the device being folded in half but points out that it could also be folded in different ratios. This might be important for the future if Samsung uses the tech in laptops - perhaps offering a rival touch panel for Apple's MacBook Pro.

The document also talks about the use of glass in the folding display. Plastic, the document says, has too many problems to be considered viable. The solution, it seems, is to use glass in some impressively slender thicknesses. The patent document suggests that the glass will vary from 0.2mm to 2mm over.

We know that Samsung is working on a folding smartphone, the Galaxy X, because the company has told us as much, and leaks have indicated the final design too. But now it seems that the firm is deploying the same tech to make a tablet. And it makes a lot of sense too, because tablets are obviously far larger than phones and don't usually fit into a pocket. By folding one in half, it's possible we could have both a phone and a tablet in one device.

So everything here seems - especially in light of the confirmed folding phone - to be pretty likely. How they achieve some aspects of the design will be especially interesting. But as an idea, a device which can be folded and used as a tablet would be both visually very cool as well as a bit more practical than lugging a tablet around.

But the problems with this sort of design are many. This is a device that will need to survive a more rigorous kind of use than most tablets - which tend to sit at home or be protected in a case. The hinge will be fascinating on any folding device, and getting the screen to bend feels, in some ways, like the easy bit. As I said in the Galaxy X piece, Samsung has been working on folding devices for a long time - it's good to see that after more than 10 years there might actually be some sign of them appearing on the market.

I've been a technology writer for the last seven years for brands like CNET, The Inquirer and Pocket-lint, but I've loved technology my whole life. I've also been lucky enough to work for the BBC where I managed the Top Gear website and worked on countless other shows, inclu...